Railways and Industry in the Western Valley: Aberbeeg to Brynmawr and EBBW Vale
By John Hodge
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John Hodge
JOHN HODGE is a former railway manager during the 1960s who, since retirement in 1992, has produced many articles and books on South Wales railways.
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Railways and Industry in the Western Valley - John Hodge
FRONT COVER: The Daily service of oil tankers from Llandarcy Oil Refinery, Swansea to Ebbw Vale Steelworks stands on the Up Loop behind the Up Ebbw Vale Platform at Aberbeeg behind Ebbw Jn.’s 7238 on 14th April 1962. (W.G. Sumner)
BACK COVER (top): Waunllwyd Colliery sidings in 1907 facing north with Waunllwyd North Signal Box on the right. All the wagons are branded E V, this being one of the Ebbw Vale Co.’s main collieries.
BACK COVER (bottom): A Class 37 reverses out of the original yard serving the new Tinplate & Galvanising Plant in 1987 before a direct access to and from the main line was constructed. (Allan Pym)
First published in Great Britain in 2017 by
Pen & Sword Transport
An imprint of Pen & Sword Books Ltd
47 Church Street, Barnsley South Yorkshire S70 2AS
Copyright © John Hodge, 2017
The right of John Hodge to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor by way of trade or otherwise shall it be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
ISBN 978 1 47383 8 086
eISBN 978 1 47387 0 208
Mobi ISBN 978 1 47387 0 192
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CONTENTS
Dedication
Preface
Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION
Chapter 2 PASSENGER SERVICE
Chapter 3 FREIGHT TRAFFIC
Coal Traffic
Iron Ore Traffic
General Freight
Bankers & Shunters
Signal Boxes in 1960s
Gradient Profile
Chapter 4 ABERBEEG
Aberbeeg South
Motive Power Depot
Allocations
Aberbeeg Yard
Aberbeeg Junction
Aberbeeg Station
Brynmawr Direction
Ebbw Vale Direction
Aberbeeg North
Chapter 5 SIX BELLS TO BRYNMAWR
Chapter 6 CWM TO EBBW VALE/BEAUFORT
Ebbw Vale Works
Chapter 7 SUBSIDIARY LINES
Chapter 8 PORTRAIT OF A MINING TOWN – PHILLIP MASSEY – Blaina
DEDICATION
I DEDICATE THIS volume to my friends in the Monmouthshire Valleys who have helped with photographs, information and in other ways in the production of this series, Allan Pym of Ebbw Vale, Malcolm James of Rogerstone, Ray Caston of Bassaleg, Ray Viney of Newport, Gerald Davies of Tredegar, Alastair Warrington of Garndiffaith, Stan Brown and David Bowen of Abergavenny, and also across the border in Glamorgan, Keith Jones of Mountain Ash for all the negatives he has loaned me over the years, Richard Woodley of Pontyclun and Mike Back of Efail Isaf.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks to all those who have helped with the provision of photographs and material for this volume, especially to R.A. (Tony) Cooke, Ray Lawrence, Allan Pym, the West Sussex Record Office who now hold the W.G. Sumner Collection, the Ebbw Vale Works Museum, former work colleagues David Maidment and Stan Judd (Station Masters at Aberbeeg and Ebbw Vale 1964-65), Malcolm James, Alastair Warrington, Kidderminster Railway Museum for the W.Potter prints, and that supreme photographer and good friend, the late Michael Mensing.
SOURCES:
Burchell Rodger, Thesis on Victoria Ironworks 1997
Cooke, R.A: GWR/WR Track Layouts
Hill, Geoffrey & Green, Gordon Industrial Locomotives of Gwent
Lawrence, Ray: Ebbw Valley Colliery Publications
Massey, Phillip, Portrait of a Mining Town 1937
Skillern, William J., The Brynmawr & Western Valleys Railway, 1958 Railway Magazine
Warrender, M.G: The History of Ebbw Vale Works
Article from Times Weekly Edition July 1938 on Transport of
Plant & Materials to Ebbw Vale New Works
Ebbw Vale The Works Supplement No. 4 Dec. 2008
1959 Working Timetable Newport District
PREFACE
THE APPROACHES TO Aberbeeg were a convenient place to make the break between Volumes 1 and 2, as it enables Aberbeeg to be dealt with as a complete entity here. This volume therefore covers the full range of activities that took place at Aberbeeg, the former engine shed to the south, the yard, passenger station and the long-closed collieries. Almost all freights needed banking beyond Aberbeeg, unless merely composed of empties, though more on the Ebbw Vale route (Ebbw Fawr) than on the Brynmawr (Ebbw Fach). Though trains had to ease around the curves at Aberbeeg itself, once clear, the train engine and banker(s) would be opened up to produce a crescendo of steam or diesel power which echoed throughout the Valley and could be heard long after the train was out of sight.
Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
THE INTRODUCTION TO Part 1 dealt with the history of the Monmouthshire Railway & Canal Company, and readers are recommended to study this for the full story of railway development throughout the Western Valley.
It was the upper reaches of the Western Valley (as in other Valleys) which had seen the development of iron and coal workings during the early nineteenth century, especially in such places as Nantyglo in the Ebbw Fach where the iron works had once been a world leader, Beaufort and Ebbw Vale. During the Victorian period much of Aberbeeg depot’s workload would have centred around the area of Nantyglo, Coalbrookvale, Blaina, Abertillery and Cwmtillery. However, the abandonment of iron making in the area, partly replaced by tinplate production, but overtaken by the huge increase of steel production at Ebbw Vale, produced a much decreased workload by the mid twentieth century. Collieries had been closed through exhaustion, ironworks long closed and tinplate works unable any longer to compete with the Ebbw Vale Works. In the Ebbw Fach, the colliery production from the mid-1960s onwards became confined to the larger pits such as at Six Bells just north of Aberbeeg, Cwmtillery, Rose Heyworth at Abertillery, and South Griffin at Blaina. However two of these would be gone as individual production units within 10 years, leaving only Six Bells and Abertillery New Mine (the former Rose Heyworth and Cwmtillery amalgamated underground) to be served by rail on that line. There was, though, some small activity by Ryans Industrial Fuels at the former Beynons Colliery site at Blaina until 1969.
In the Ebbw Fawr, the original complex of collieries in the Cwm and Ebbw Vale areas, originally owned by the Ebbw Vale Iron & Coal Co., gradually declined due to exhaustion, and underground linkage, especially at Cwm where there were originally at least three production points. These ultimately reduced to just one at Marine, and much simplified the railway servicing requirement, which by the 1960s was bringing Six Bells coal to Marine for washing. This was blended with Marine production and then transported to Ebbw Vale, Llanwern and Margam Steelworks, before the flow from Six Bells passed by underground link in 1977. Thereafter it was to supply empties to Marine for outwards loading, culminating in the use of MGR trains for supply to Llanwern.
The first half of the twentieth century. had seen large movements of steam coal from many of the Western Valley collieries to railway depots on the Great Western and Southern Railway, this continuing until the change from steam to diesel traction, all being staged through Rogerstone Yard, and accounting for almost all the long distance movement from there, other than return iron ore empties. The building of Llanwern Steelworks in 1961/2 saw the National Coal Board and the steelworks use the displaced steam coal to become prime coking coal for steel production in vast quantities. This made the rail movement far simpler, though now short distance, eventually enabling Rogerstone downside Hump Yard to be closed at the end of 1968, as this coal could now pass direct from colliery to steelworks in fully-fitted train loads. The increase in coal rates on flows to washeries made such movement uneconomic to the NCB and most of the flows were eventually made underground. Such was the nature of the change in coal movement in the Western Valley as the twentieth century proceeded. The larger collieries of Rose Heyworth, Oakdale and Marine moved into the Merry-Go-Round era during the mid-1970s and 80s for their prime coking coal to Llanwern and saw power eventually provided by the Class 56 diesels which were able to take greater loads than the Class 37s, which had become the standard workhorse for coal movement in the Valleys.
The 1984 national coal strike sounded the death knell for the South Wales pits, as even those that survived soon succumbed and the final coal movement in the Western Valley ended in 1989 with the closure of Oakdale, the largest of the coal production units. Fortunately my friend Malcolm James of Rogerstone photographed the very last train out of Oakdale to Llanwern at 7am on that final day, 26th August 1989, a historic event in the Valleys, if ever there was one.
The smaller tinplate works at Abercarn, Abertillery, Blaina and Nantyglo closed one by one with their failure to be able to compete with Ebbw Vale, which itself saw the cessation of steel making in the mid-1970s. It switched fully to tinplate production later in 1978, and was eventually closed down by its new owners, Corus, in 2002 to leave no industry requiring rail transport in the whole Valley, an unimaginable scenario fifty years earlier.
But rail transport is not dead in the Western Valley. In 2008, trading on the fact that the track to Ebbw Vale was still in situ after the works’ closure, and following lengthy debate, a passenger service was re-instated to respond to the public need for better transport links in the area and the ever-growing problem of car parking at Newport and Cardiff. As the double-track Western Loop (formerly known as the Cardiff Curve) was still in place between Park Jn. and Ebbw Jn. and there was good public demand, a service was introduced between Cardiff Central and Ebbw Vale on an hourly interval. Plans for a parallel service into Newport High Street have suffered long delays from infrastructure costs, which in 2014 were still unresolved, though with plenty of interest, pressure and potential to correct the overdue inaction. However, in mid-2015 the track above Crosskeys was doubled for increased frequency of service, with a new station serving Ebbw Vale town already opened.
Since the withdrawal of passenger services in the Eastern and Western Valleys in 1962, road traffic has increased vastly, as everywhere, resulting in long delays and huge parking difficulties in cities such as Newport and Cardiff, providing a grandstand reception for the new rail service. On rugby international days at Cardiff, trains leave Ebbw Vale full and standing, with Ebbw Vale being used as a railhead for the surrounding locations. It is impossible to board at any intermediate station. The current railway is unable to cope with rugby internationals in the way that GWR/ British Railways did well.
Electrification of remaining Valley lines is planned and there is a strong case to use this to redress some of the closures inflicted on the Valleys in the 1960s and perhaps create some new links to places that have lost their rail service. We must hope the opportunity is taken to plan constructively for the future of rail passenger services in an area which has seen much of its previous way of life obliterated.
Chapter 2
PASSENGER SERVICE
The Brynmawr & Western Valleys Railway
PRIOR TO 1905, the Western Valley line terminated at Nantyglo and had no direct connection with the LNWR Merthyr to Abergavenny line at Brynmawr, though the two were only a mile and a half apart, a veritable ‘missing link’. Both the GWR and LNWR had developed plans to rectify the position for some twenty years and were reliant on the Nantyglo and Blaina’s private mineral railway, over which they had running powers. This ran between both points to convey industrial traffic, with the GWR able to extend their 3.15am train from Newport Dock Street to Nantyglo over the line to Brynmawr when required to deliver traffic and mails. Their plan was to acquire the mineral line and then upgrade it to main line standards for passenger and freight use. However, the ironworks’ conditions were so complicated and demanding that both the national companies withdrew.
In 1898, the railway engineer Sir James Szlumper, who had been very active in planning the routes for the Barry Railway, surveyed the route of a proposed new direct line, the cost for a double track being put at £33.5k., the sum including £5.7k for the permanent way and track, £4.2k for earthworks and £1.5k for improvements and extensions to the stations at either end. Plans for a new line were deposited in November 1898 by a new Brynmawr & Western Valley Railway Co., and though there was some opposition from the Ironworks Co., were approved in an Act of July 13th 1899. This authorised the construction of a railway 1mile 1 furlong 1.75chains in length from a point 410 yards north of the booking office at Nantyglo station to a junction with the LNWR 150 yards west of Brynmawr station. The Directors of the new company were the ninth Duke of Beaufort, Romer Williams, Samuel Wood and Cowper Coles, these remaining in office until 1902, with a capital of £39k.
The Act specified that the works should be completed in three years, i.e. by 1902, and authorised passenger fares of 3d., 2d., and 1d. per mile for the three classes of travel between the two stations. Running powers were granted to the LNWR to Nantyglo and to the GWR to Brynmawr. As no work had started by 1901, the Duke of Beaufort, as Chairman of the Company, approached both railway companies suggesting they should take over the provisions of the 1899 Act, to which both agreed and the transfer was sanctioned in the Brynmawr & Western Valleys (Vesting) Act of July 1902, which extended the completion date for the line to 12th July 1905 with a penalty of £50 per day for non compliance by that date. The GWR and LNWR agreed together that all costs for building and maintenance should be shared, but that the work would be undertaken by the LNWR, revenue over the line to be shared. The GWR also agreed to pay £275 a year towards the LNWR’s obligations to the Nantyglo & Blaina Ironworks Co., the lease of whose railway would not be renewed upon expiry in December 1918.
The new railway was built as a single line terminating at a new bay platform 120 yards long at the west end of Brynmawr station. Between Nantyglo station and the southern end of the new line, the GWR line had previously been part of a mineral line into the Works and this needed to be relaid to upgrade it to passenger standards. The line was inspected by Lt.Col. H.A. Yorke on behalf of the Board of Trade on 30th June 1905 but he refused its use by passenger trains because of the lack of passing facilities at Nantyglo which was on a steep gradient on a single line. Though this had not been rectified, a formal opening for all traffic took place on 12th July 1905, as previously specified in the Vesting Act, the ceremony performed by the Duke and Duchess of Beaufort. In fact, the start of operations was suspended until 28th May 1906 until double line had been provided to satisfy the Board of Trade stipulations for a distance of 704ft. immediately south of Nantyglo station. Ten trains were then introduced in both directions. Running powers were later granted to the LNWR to access the collieries and works down to Rose Heyworth.
After leaving Nantyglo, which was a single line station at 1,030ft. altitude, with the platform on the east side, trains ran northwards over former GWR metals with the start of the River Ebbw (Fach) little more than a yard wide, to the west. Nineteen chains north of the station, the track divided at Machine Sidings Junction, controlled by a two-lever ground frame and unlocked by a key attached to the electric train staff. The Brynmawr line then bore away to the left, soon crossing the start of the river and a